Stephanie McMahon: Triple H 'almost defined the Attitude Era'

During a recent interview with Forbes, current WWE superstar/executive/chairman-in-training Paul Levesque -- better known by us cretins as Triple H -- gave a few interesting quotes on the so-called Attitude Era, which lasted from around 1997 to roughly 2001. He was speaking in context of the video game that came out this past year but his words led to an even more interesting comment from his wife, Stephanie McMahon.

First, Triple H:

"It's one of those things - I've talked about this with Austin and a little bit with Rock, too - you don't realize is happening at the time; it's just what you're doing. We were all so wrapped up in what we were doing, and it was so competitive with each other. It's only now that I think we can look back and go, ‘Wow. That was a pretty special time, and we shared some pretty special things all together and made history.' I think at the time you're doing it, you realize it's going well, but you're just so deep in there that you can't even fathom really what you're doing. To look back at it now and see all those times, and to watch the video game...when we did the voiceovers to the video game, to go back and watch some of those scenes take place, it's crazy because you forget what a...that was just another day then. ... For me the Attitude Era was a lot of fun."

That led to Stephanie saying this:

"He almost defined the attitude era. He was a huge component of it."

That's interesting for a number of reasons, the least of which is that it's revisionist history at best, downright bullshit at worst. Sure, Triple H played a big part in what the World Wrestling Federation was doing at that time, but he came to prominence through a legendary feud with The Rock that was made possible due in large part to the fact that Stone Cold Steve Austin -- the man widely credited with being the one who actually defined the Attitude Era -- was out for a year with an injured neck.

In fact, had it not been for Austin's neck problems and Rock's aspirations for bigger and better things in Hollywood, it's fair to wonder just how far Triple H's career would have gone.

Cagesiders, what are your thoughts on this?